Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz (Lu) Dort and Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis have a somewhat parallel story arc in the NBA, with potentially two very different outcomes.
Dort went undrafted and joined the Thunder in 2019 on a two-way contract. He made an immediate impression with defense, which earned him a contract shortly after. By June 2020, Oklahoma City gave him a four-year, $5.4 million deal. Two seasons later his team option was declined, and the team offered him a five-year, $87.5 million extension.
Ellis began his journey in 2022. After going undrafted himself, he joined the Kings and signed a two-way deal after showing promise on the defensive side of the ball. He earned a 3-year, $5.5 million contract in February 2024, a testament to his reliability on defense and growth. In June, the Kings picked up his team option, which makes him an unrestricted free agent next season. The Kings have the ability to extend him on Feb. 9.
On the court, Dort and Ellis evolved into defensive-minded, low-usage guards who can knock down threes. Ellis for his career averages 42% from three. Dort’s career average is 35% from three (with two more attempts per game). Dort’s career average in steals is 1, Ellis’ is 1.2. Both shoot 79% from the free throw line. Both aren’t really distributors, averaging less than 2 assists per game. Both are 6’4’’, but Dort can push opponents around more at 220 pounds, compared to Ellis at 175 pounds. But this makes Ellis quicker with ability to sneak into passing lanes easier. On the flip side, Dort is a better rebounder, probably because of his extra weight.
Bottom line: They are both 3-and-D players who play with discipline and are willing to sacrifice for the betterment of their teams. Ellis is slightly more efficient from the field, while Dort is a slightly better rebounder.
Each player’s year three served as their breakouts. Dort’s minutes jumped to 32 per game and he started in all 51 of the games he played in. He averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Ellis’ third year came with fewer minutes (24 per game) and he logged 28 starts in the 80 games he played in. He averaged 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 48% from the field and 43% from three. There weren’t a lot of shots to go around on a team that featured Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk. On Nov. 18, 2024, in a game against the Atlanta Hawks, Ellis scored 33 points in 33 minutes on 9-15 from three.
As you can see, Ellis’ leash in terms of minutes was a lot shorter than Dort’s in year three. For the next four seasons after his breakout third season, Dort played around 30 minutes per game and started every game he played in other than 1. This included playing a key role in the Thunder’s championship last season. His shot attempts per game and scoring has incrementally decreased each year since his third year, but he has remained an integral part of the rotation. So far this season, Ellis’ fourth year, he has seen six less minutes per game than his third season and started in only 1 of the 9 games he has played in. Ellis’ year three, in my opinion, should have been the year he earned trust because his efficiency and defensive metrics show he is ready for a larger role.
As mentioned in a previous article, last season, some of the most efficient Kings lineups featured him, according to Cleaning the Glass:
The lineup with the best differential had Keon Ellis in it
The top SIX lineups in points per possession had Keon Ellis in it
The top FOUR lineups with the best effective field goal percentage featured Keon Ellis
The lineup with the best turnover percentage, you guessed it, featured Keon Ellis
The top FOUR lineups with the best offensive rebound percentage had Keon Ellis
Keon Ellis was in the lineup with the best free throw rate
The lineup with the best points per possession allowed featured Keon Ellis
The lineup with the best opponent effective field goal percentage had Keon Ellis in it
The top two lineups with the best turnover percentage included Keon Ellis
Now, where Dort and Ellis’ trajectories begin to take different paths is within the goals of each organization they are with. The Thunder give their young players the ability to grow through experiences and trust, room to fail knowing their potential outweighed the mistakes and losses that could come from them, all while fitting in to what is going on with the rest of the roster. Player development is the team’s lifeblood.
Internal trust over immediate results.
Here are some Sam Presti quotes to ponder from this 2024 article:
“As they say, shortcuts cut long runs short, and we’re going to do everything in our power not to allow that to happen.”
“You can’t have one eye on the clock and one eye on the destination. We need to have two eyes on the path for us to be successful. We’ll let other people watch the clock.”
The Kings operate in a win-now mentality, with both eyes on the clock. The short cuts are evident with a roster of older veterans who are well-known around the league, but have no championships to their names. They all need the ball in their hands to be effective. More specifically, it features a glut of guards that prevent Ellis from having an increased role.
One franchise believes in cultural continuity and sustained development, the other believes in a win-now focus of hanging on to hopes of a Play-In appearance at all costs for the sake of entertainment.
And it was apparent Friday night at the Golden 1 Center when these two teams played each other. Dort didn’t play in the game because of a shoulder issue. Ellis didn’t play either, at least until the fourth quarter, due to a roster construction issue.
As the Thunder pulled away from the Kings after the first quarter, it became glaring Ellis had not entered the game. As the game went on into the third quarter and the Kings could not make a shot or stop anything, the guy who can do both remained sitting on the ground near the bench. Ellis maintained a cheery demeanor, celebrating made baskets and supporting his teammates. But that is all he could do as the four-guard lineup featuring Dennis Schroder, Zach LaVine, Russell Westbrook, and DeMar DeRozan tried to make things work with the severely overmatched Drew Eubanks at center. Eubanks finished with 1 rebound as Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holgrem erased his presence on the boards. (There is still no one who can pick up the slack when Domantas Sabonis isn’t on the floor and he missed this game. Which is a whole other roster construction problem given the Kings traded away Jonas Valanciunas in the offseason for Dario Saric, who didn’t play Friday.)
Anyhow, when Ellis finally entered the game in the fourth quarter the game was already pretty much in the books.
Following the game, head coach Doug Christie had this to say about why Ellis sat the first three quarters: “It’s a numbers game. I mean there’s a big logjam there. So, night to night it could be different. It’s not going to get any easier once you get Keegan [Murray] back.”
Translation: Once Westbrook no longer has to play at power forward, he will need minutes at the guard spots, which further limits Ellis.
Christie also was asked how difficult it is to figure out the correct rotation with what he has to work with.
“I think the correct rotation is going to be whoever plays defense,” he said.
Ellis played 12 minutes total in the 132-101 loss.
Christie has his own set of pressures to deal with right now in terms of trying to manufacture wins with a deeply flawed roster construction featuring aging, well-known veterans who expect minutes so it could be a variety of reasons he does not feel he has the ability to give Ellis extended run. Maybe he doesn’t think Ellis is up to par in terms of doing other things outside of on-ball defense and shooting threes. Ellis isn’t a great rebounder and his per 36 minutes put him at 3.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists and only 12.9 points. Christie was a defensive specialist also, so it makes it even more curious as to why he doesn’t play Ellis more.
Whatever the head coach’s real reasoning is though isn’t as important as the question of why this Kings team doesn’t seem all that interested in finding out if Ellis is their Dort. There is probably a lot of politics going on around this. And maybe they already think they know what he is and have made a decision for the future.
There also seems to be a dedication to winning now while not having a real chance of winning anything significant, and at the same time not being bad enough for a high lottery pick. Now, the Kings also don’t have Shae Gilgeous Alexander, which plays a pretty large factor into roster decisions, but without a clear path to even the ability to find their SGA, why not figure out the pieces you do have so if the opportunity arises you can act with a supporting cast ready and waiting?
Look, Ellis isn’t a franchise player who is going to win a game at the buzzer for you or take over a game, but he is a guy you put in a position to make an impact long-term if you are looking to build cultural continuity and sustained development.